1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium outputting method, a database server, a recording medium outputting apparatus, and a recording medium outputting system. More particularly, the invention relates to a recording medium outputting method, a database server, a recording medium outputting apparatus, and a recording medium outputting system for obtaining data of a copy-forgery-inhibited secret document such as a certificate of residence, securities via a communication network such as the Internet, intranet, or computer network, merging the obtained data with a copy forgery preventing image capable of preventing forgery by copying, and outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to the merged data directly from a printer.
2. Related Background Art
A virtual shop for selling commodities on a computer network such as the Internet or intranet has the convenience that the user can purchase various commodities by accessing the shop from a terminal. The contents dealt by the virtual shops are rapidly increasing to tours, music, books, insurance, and the like. Through a virtual shop, various commodities can be sold without displaying the commodities in an actual shop. Consequently, in many convenience stores, multimedia terminals are installed.
In recent years, by providing or connecting a color printer in/to the multimedia terminal, real-time on-demand output service such as sales of a picture of a star is becoming available. Since the convenience of the virtual shop further increases by such real-time on-demand output service, expansion of the contents, for example, issuance of securities such as a gift certificate, various tickets such as airline ticket and show ticket, a certificate of residence, and the like is expected.
In spite of the fact that a picture of a star or the like can be copied by a color copier, under present circumstances, no measure of protecting the copyright and the rights to one""s portrait is taken. There is also the possibility that a secret document such as a certificate of residence related to the privacy of an individual, securities and a ticket are forged or counterfeited by being copied. When a measure of preventing illegal copying is not taken, such a secret document cannot be directly outputted from a printer by operating, for example, the multimedia terminal installed in a convenience store.
Conventionally, to prevent illegal copying of a secret document, a special sheet called a copy forgery prevention sheet is used. The copy forgery prevention sheet is a sheet on which a special pattern of characters of warning or the like which is not easily seen by the eyes of a human but appears when the sheet is copied by a copier is printed in advance. When a document printed on the copy forgery prevention sheet is copied by a copier, letters of warning such as xe2x80x9ccopy prohibitedxe2x80x9d appear conspicuously on a copy. An illegal act of copying can be psychologically suppressed, and the original and a copy can be discriminated from each other by the characters of warning.
When such copy forgery prevention sheets are loaded in a printer installed in a convenience store or the like and document data read from a database by operating the multimedia terminal is printed on the copy forgery prevention sheet, a secret document such as certificate of residence, securities and a ticket can be directly outputted from the printer.
Since special printing has to be performed in advance, the copy forgery prevention sheet has a problem such its cost is higher than a sheet used by an ordinary copier or printer. In the case of changing a design of a background pattern, a logo, a symbol mark, or the like, printing on sheets has to be newly performed. Consequently, it is not easy to change something in the sheet. In the case of a certificate of residence as an example, the user has to manage different copy forgery prevention sheets according to municipalities. The management cost is also a burden on the user.
The invention has been achieved in consideration of the problems of the conventional techniques and provides a recording medium outputting method, a database server, a recording medium outputting apparatus, and a recording medium outputting system capable of outputting a recording medium without using a copy forgery prevention sheet by merging copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited by being forged by copying with corresponding copy forgery preventing image data capable of preventing forgery by copying and outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to the merged data.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting method of outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying, including the steps of: retrieving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data according to information inputted through a terminal from a storing part in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying and plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of various kinds for preventing forgery by copying are stored, and selecting a piece of copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the selected piece of copy forgery preventing image data.
In the storing part, plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying and plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of various kinds for preventing forgery by copying are stored. From the storing part, copy-forgery-inhibited data according to the information inputted from the terminal is retrieved, and copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved copy-forgery-inhibited data is selected. A recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the selected piece of copy forgery preventing image data is outputted.
As described above, since the recording medium on which printing is made according to the data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the selected piece of copy forgery preventing image data is outputted, the recording medium can be outputted without using a copy forgery preventing sheet. Moreover, since the copy forgery preventing image data preliminarily generated and stored in the storing part is selected, a time required to output the recording medium can be short.
It is also possible to store the copy forgery preventing image data in the storing part in which the copy-forgery-inhibited data is stored, dispose the storing part on the retrieval side (for example, database server side), and select the copy forgery preventing image data on the retrieval side. It is also possible to store the copy forgery preventing image data in the storing part disposed on the retrieval side, store the copy-forgery-inhibited data in the storing part disposed on the output side (for example, print server side), and select the copy forgery preventing image data on the output side.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a database server including: a database for storing plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying and plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of various kinds for preventing forgery by copying; a retrieving and selecting part for retrieving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data according to information inputted through a terminal from the database, and selecting a piece of copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and an outputting part for outputting the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the selected piece of copy forgery preventing image data.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a recording medium outputting apparatus for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying, including: a first storing part for storing plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying; a receiving part for receiving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data retrieved from the first storing part in accordance with information inputted through a terminal; a second storing part for storing plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of different kinds for preventing forgery by copying; a selecting part for selecting a piece of copy forgery preventing image data according to the received piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data from the second storing part; and an outputting part for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the received piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the selected piece of copy forgery preventing data.
By storing the copy forgery preventing image data in the second storing part on the output side, the amount of data transmitted to the recording medium outputting apparatus can be reduced.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting system including: a terminal connected to a computer network, from which information for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying is inputted; a database in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying and plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of various kinds for preventing forgery by copying are stored; and a database server connected to the computer network, which includes a retrieving and selecting part for retrieving a piece of the copy-forgery-inhibited data from the database in accordance with information inputted from the terminal and selecting a piece of copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data, and an outputting part for merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the selected piece of copy forgery preventing image data and outputting the merged data.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting system having: a terminal connected to a computer network, from which information for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying is inputted; a database in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying are stored; a database server connected to the computer network, which includes a retrieving part for retrieving a piece of the copy-forgery-inhibited data from the database in accordance with information inputted from the terminal, and an outputting part for outputting the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and a print server connected to the computer network, which includes a memory in which plural pieces of copy forgery preventing image data of different kinds for preventing forgery by copying are stored, a selecting part for selecting a piece of copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data, and an outputting part for merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the piece of selected copy forgery preventing image data and outputting the merged data.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting method of outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying, including the steps of: retrieving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data according to information inputted through a terminal from a storing part in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying are stored, and generating copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the generated copy forgery preventing image data.
In the storing part, plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying are stored in the storing part. The copy-forgery-inhibited data according to the invention from the terminal is retrieved from the storing part, copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved copy-forgery-inhibited data is generated, and a recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the generated copy forgery preventing image data is outputted.
Since the recording medium on which printing is made according to the data obtained by merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the generated copy forgery preventing image data is outputted, the recording medium can be outputted without using a copy forgery preventing sheet. Moreover, since the copy forgery preventing image data is generated, the storage capacity of the storing part can be reduced.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a database server including: a database for storing plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying; a retrieving part for retrieving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data according to information inputted through a terminal from the database; a generating part for generating copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and an outputting part for outputting the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the generated copy forgery preventing image data.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting apparatus for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying, including: a storing part for storing plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying; a receiving part for receiving a piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data retrieved from the storing part in accordance with information inputted through a terminal; a generating part for generating copy forgery preventing image data according to the received piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and an outputting part for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to data obtained by merging the received piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data with the generated copy forgery preventing image data.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting system including: a terminal connected to a computer network, from which information for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying is inputted; a database in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying are stored; and a database server connected to the computer network, which includes a retrieving part for retrieving a piece of the copy-forgery-inhibited data from the database in accordance with the information inputted from the terminal, a generating part for generating copy forgery preventing image data according to the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data, and an outputting part for merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the generated copy forgery preventing image data and outputting the merged data.
According to further another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording medium outputting system including: a terminal connected to a computer network, from which information for outputting a recording medium on which printing is made according to copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying is inputted; a database in which plural pieces of copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying is stored; a database server connected to the computer network, which includes a retrieving part for retrieving a piece of the copy-forgery-inhibited data from the database in accordance with the information inputted from the terminal, and an outputting part for outputting the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data; and a print server connected to the computer network, which includes a generating part for generating copy forgery preventing image data according to retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data, and an outputting part for merging the retrieved piece of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the generated copy forgery preventing image data and outputting the merged data.
The copy-forgery-inhibited data inhibited to be forged by copying in the invention includes data having a copyright or right to one""s portrait, or script data. The script data includes data of a certificate of residence, a document certifying that a seal is registered, or the like issued by a municipality and data of securities and the like. The data having a copyright or right to one""s portrait includes data of ticket, picture, and the like.
In the case of generating the copy forgery preventing image data, the information inputted from the terminal is allowed to include at least one of information regarding an operator of the terminal, information regarding a terminal for outputting a recording medium, and information regarding a time of outputting a recording medium, and the copy forgery preventing image data can be generated according to the information from the terminal. For example, a character string indicative of information such as the name or ID number of the terminal operator, the IP address of an output terminal, and time/day/month/year of instruction of outputting a recording medium is buried as a latent image. In such a manner, a latent-image-buried image according to the information inputted from the terminal can be generated. By generating the copy forgery preventing image data in accordance with the information inputted from the terminal, the copy forgery preventing image data of a different kind can be merged with the document data and the merged data can be printed on the recording medium. Consequently, in the case where illegal copying is made, the distributing path of the illegal copy can be easily traced.
The kind of the copy forgery preventing image data can be varied according to at least one of the kind of copy-forgery-inhibited data and a source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data. For example, latent-image-buried image data in which an image indicative of information such as the kind of the copy-forgery-inhibited data and the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data is buried as a latent image can be used. By changing the copy forgery preventing image data in accordance with information such as the kind of copy-forgery-inhibited data and the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data, the kind of the copy-forgery-inhibited data and the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data can be easily determined.
The following arrangement is also possible. The copy forgery preventing image data is constructed of a background portion which is not copied by a copier and a latent image portion reproduced by the copier, or of a background portion which is copied by a copier and a latent image portion which is not reproduced by the copier, and the kind of the copy forgery preventing image data is varied by changing the shape of the latent image portion or at least one of a color of the latent image portion and a color of the background portion. In this case, the color of the copy forgery preventing image data to be merged can be changed according to at least one of the kind of the copy-forgery-inhibited data, the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data, and a time of outputting a recording medium. By changing the color of the copy forgery preventing image in accordance with at least one of the kind of the copy-forgery-inhibited data, the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data, and the time of outputting a recording medium as described above, the kind of the copy-forgery-inhibited data, the source of providing the copy-forgery-inhibited data, and the time of outputting the recording medium can be easily determined.
It is also possible to vary a charge in accordance with at least one of an operator of the terminal, the kind of copy-forgery-inhibited data, presence/absence of an advertisement in the recording medium, a position of outputting the recording medium, and a time of outputting the recording medium.